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Thursday, 29 October 2015

EVIL BE TO HIM WHO EVEL THINKS IT?

EVIL BE TO HIM WHO EVEL THINKS IT?

There is the famous story of how, in a fit of petulance, Edward III decided that his Order of Knighthood wasn’t going to be of the Arthurian Roundtable but rather of the Garter, when his courtiers sniggered at a garter falling off Edward’s mistress’s stocking and which he had bent down to pick up. He is said to have responded ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’, the motto of the garter (meaning evil be to him who evil thinks it).

The Conservative’s House of Commons procedural EVEL tinkering which gives predominantly Conservative MPs a veto in the House of Commons over Bills which the Speaker of the House certifies as being English only has caused a flurry of comment. Some of it utterly hysterical, especially from the Scottish contingent, whether they be SNP or Labour; also, indeed, some Scots representing English seats for the Conservative Party and also the Northern Irish Unionists and Welsh MPs commentators. Generally English commentators tend to think that it is a fairly minor alteration which is merely a nod in the direction of English interests.

As English Democrats we of course say it is far too little to give a proper voice to our Nation’s interests. However one of the more interesting and thoughtful articles written about this has come from the Economist’s constitutional commentator, writing as Bagehot’s Notebook. I reproduce his article below but I think the importance of the article is that it highlights two significant issues.

One is that there is a fundamental choice facing English people in the fairly near future. This is whether the English Nation is happy to be broken up into some sort of bogus regions; whether they be the nine EU “Regions” or Osborne’s half baked “Northern Powerhouses”. What the article shows is that the only viable alternative to Regionalisation is Independence. That is very much the English Democrats’ analysis too and that is, of course, one of the reasons why, as English nationalists, we support English Independence.

The other point that he mentions, but has not yet fully thought through, is the new politicisation of the role of Speaker.

The current Speaker, John Bercow, with his background considering himself to be British not English, will be very likely to certify that any bill where there is any doubt is a British Bill and therefore all MPs have equal rights over it. But when John Bercow stands down or is replaced there will inevitably be a much more hotly contested election than before to be the next Speaker. English MPs, who are moving in the direction of English nationalism, will want to make sure that the next Speaker is much more concerned about English interests than John Bercow is.

On the other hand the Scottish contingent is certain to want a Scot, whether he represents a Scottish seat or an English seat, to try to make sure that there is never a veto on Scottish MPs having a full say on anything which they want to have a say on.

In the meanwhile here is the Bagehot article from the Economist :-

English-only votes set Britain on the path to federalisation—or break-up

Oct 22nd 2015, 17:54 by BAGEHOT

THE House of Commons has just voted in favour (by 312 MPs to 270) of English votes for English laws (EVEL). Superficially a piece of legislative housekeeping—it became law by standing order—this measure fundamentally changes the way the United Kingdom functions. The country should be an unwieldy, unstable beast: few multi-part polities in which one segment is much mightier than the other work out. But Britain’s union, 84% of which is England, has lasted for three centuries because the English have for centuries allowed their political identity to be blurred into that of the British state (as I argued more fully in a recent column, pasted below this post). Today’s vote draws a line under that; a faint one, perhaps, but a line nonetheless.

Its roots lie in the febrile final days of the campaign leading up to Scotland’s independence referendum last September. Polls suggesting that the Out side was narrowly ahead panicked unionists in London, who issued a “vow” promising extensive new powers for Edinburgh. On the morning after the In victory David Cameron, in a speech outside 10 Downing Street, argued that it was also time for England to gain some self-determination. The moment had come, he argued, for EVEL: a system giving MPs for seats in England precedence in parliamentary votes no longer relevant to the devolved parts of the United Kingdom that now control swathes of their own domestic policies (most notably Scotland). The Conservatives used this pledge to tar Labour, opposed to EVEL, as the vassal of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) in the run up to the election in May. Duly elected with a majority, the Tories have now enacted it.

I struggle to find the measure particularly offensive. It is wrong that Scottish MPs get to rule on bills concerning, say, only English hospitals. Banning them from participating in such votes would create the risk of two separate governments; one English, one British (in the event of a Labour government reliant on its Scottish MPs, for example). So EVEL rightly gives English MPs a veto, but also requires all bills to pass the House of Commons as a whole. As compromises go, it could be worse.

Still, the risk of a “two-tier” Commons is real. In a chamber where all are notionally equal Scottish MPs will be less powerful than English ones. EVEL greatly inflates the role of the speaker, whose job it will be to decide whether a bill is English-only—and thus whether the English majority should wield a veto. In practice, he will generally rule on the side of Britishness. This, and the fact that further fiscal powers will soon travel north to Edinburgh (meaning that even budget votes could generate expectations of an English veto), will eventually render EVEL insufficient. It seems to me that this movie has two possible endings.

The first, happier one is federalisation. Giving England power over things that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland already control would clear the way to a Parliament and government in Downing Street responsible only for matters affecting all British citizens equally: foreign affairs, defence, monetary policy and so forth. An English Parliament risks exacerbating the problem that for centuries has been smothered in the mushy blur of Englishness and Britishness: the unworkable rivalry between any English government and a British one. But English devolution could yet take different forms. Sub-national authorities in England are already assuming powers unthinkable a few short years ago: Greater Manchester will soon run its own health service, for example. The long-term solution to Britain’s constitutional quandaries is probably a federal system in which Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol, Cardiff, Southampton, Edinburgh and Belfast meet together, on equal terms, in London.

The second and more likely possible outcome is separation. English self-denial has been the glue holding the union together. It is melting. Both EVEL and the broader rise in an English sense of identity (comprehensively outlined in a 2012 paper by the IPPR, a think-tank) suggest that the United Kingdom is experiencing a great normalisation. Its constitutional imbalance is finally asserting itself. A ship that has sailed forth for many years despite a strong tilt is finally listing towards the waves. Last year’s Scottish referendum—and the strong appetite for a rerun evinced at the recent Scottish National Party conference—suggests that it is already taking on water. EVEL may prove the point at which it tips too far; at which England’s reemergence accelerates and at which the ship capsizes.

18 comments:

As Bagehot says, the second outcome, i.e., separation, is the more likely outcome. This absolutely confirms the English Democrats' analysis. The aim of keeping the UK intact, as well as leaving the EU, is the contradiction at the heart of Ukip. Ukip is finished, leaving a vacuum for the English Democrats to fill.That message needs to be hammered home with the English electorate. The other thing about Ukip which needs to be highlighted is that Ukip is in favour of immigration as long as it is not from the EU.

The Government has announced the "National" Infrastructure Commission under ex-Labour peer Lord Andrew Adonis to steam-roller through the Government's five year plans against the people's wishes.The appointment of Adonis, the author of HS2, should set alarm bells ringing.

Young English people face the worst economic prospects for several generations and their lives have got worse over the past five years, a comprehensive report published on the 29th of October has concluded.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said that young people – defined as those under 34 – suffered the biggest slide in income and employment and now faced higher barriers to achieving economic independence and success than five years ago.The period during which their fate has worsened coincides with the election of the Conservative-led coalition government in 2010.

The commission, said that although life had become fairer for many, progress had stalled or even worsened for some groups in society. The report, Is Britain Fairer?, showed that during the recession and up to 2013, people aged under 34 were hit by the steepest drops in pay and employment, had less access to decent housing and better paid jobs, and were experiencing deepening levels of poverty.

The unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds stood at 14.8% for the three months to August, according to official figures, with some 683,000 classed as unemployed. That rate was higher than the 13.8% recorded for the three months to February 2008 – before the financial downturn struck.

EHRC commissioner Laura Carstensen said that while barriers were being lowered in some sections of society, young people in particular were having to cope with far more difficult circumstances. “This report should be wake-up call to ministers. Hiking up university and college fees and excluding young people from the new higher minimum wage rate is not the way to build a fair and prosperous Britain. It is the blueprint for a lost generation,” she said. "Without better employment and training opportunities many young people will continue to be shut out any recovery.”

George Osborne announced a “national living wage” in this July’s Budget of £7.20 an hour from next April, but only for workers aged 25 and above. Those aged 21 to 24 will continue to be paid the current national minimum wage of £6.70 an hour.

The EHRC report also found that poverty now had a much bigger impact on the education of native English than it did for those from other ethnic groups. White English boys from poor families were experiencing a combination of disadvantage, according to its research. People of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage recorded the biggest improvements in education and employment.

England and Russia too will soon be free. I see that the Americans are saying that Britain will not be able to have a trade treaty with them if we leave the EU. By 2017 TTIP will have been pushed through in secret and all democracy and economic sovereignty will be gone. You will probably find that even out of the EU we will still be bound by TTIP and the world wide bar Russia and China slavery is complete with the bankers heading the big corporations. Meanwhile a speaker on RT said that the global south and BRICS are backing Russia in Syria and also that Russia and China are the next of the bankers' goals, then they will have total power. Even if England is free of the Union little will probably change. They are masters in trickery and subterfuge. We have to wait for Russia to defeat them so that we can all be free and the immigrants from the global south can return home once their countries are free of war and exploitation. Have just learned that all those young men flooding into Germany are raping the women and destroying the churches. But we know who is behind them. Evil Saudi Arabia has said Assad must go. At least Assad was elected. The Saudi Royal family are not in that most vile of countries as they work hand in glove with the Zionist state.

"The Saudi Royal family are not in that most vile of countries as they work hand in glove with the Zionist state."I don't know what you mean by this, but it looks anti-Jewish. English nationalism will not be helped by appearing to blame the crimes of global capitalism on the Jews. The fact is that Zionism is a tool of global capitalism, not the other way round, and some of the biggest critics of Zionism are Jews..

That is why I referred to the Zionist state and not the Jewish homeland. You must differentiate between Jews and Zionists.In fact there is evidence that 90% of those living in Israel have ancestors who came from somewhere a long way from Israel. Israel has admitted, according to a commentator last night, that their plan is to pit Sunni against Shia in a fight to the death. And Saudi's aim is to wipe out the Shia. I am not being anti-Semitic.

50% of children are being born to immigrants here who have arrived in the last ten years. That excludes all those who have arrived since the War. It is obvious that the English will be a minority now within a generation. Non-English babies are already the majority.

We have already been told that White British will be in the minority by 2066. That means that the native English will be in the minority probably by 2050. By that date one third of the population of Britain, not England, will be non-white.

Billy Bragg was on BBC Question Time yesterday, although I do not agree with his politics, he did say that the English need a parliament, the same as Scotland. I wonder if he will hold pop concerts etc for the cause?

Bragg also supports devolution to the eight standard regions and London, which would remove the name of England from the map. Devolution to regional assemblies representing the standard regions would be the opposite of devolution to an English parliament. He is clearly confused.

The only way an English parliament could exist alongside English "regional" devolution would be if England quit the UK. Then the powers of the English parliament could be primarily focussed on foreign policy, defence, macroeconomics, trade, currency, etc, with an extensive tranche of powers for the "regional" assemblies/parliaments, effectively making England into a federal state.

EVEL is a joke - albeit a sick one. I have often said, "There is no such thing as an 'English' M.P. There are only British M.P.s sitting for English constituencies." Many of these are Scottish or Welsh. Consider this scenario. The House of Commons is to debate a bill which proposes a further increase in fees charged to English university students. The Speaker has declared this to be an "England only" measure, so only M.P.s sitting for English constituencies may vote. TheBritScots and BritWelsh will vote in favour because their own people will be unaffected. The BritEnglish will vote in favour because their party whips tell the to.The measure is carried.EVEL? A sick joke.Clive,W-s-M.

Clive, EVEL is a cynical ploy by arrogant Cameron to avoid giving England representation. "No taxation without representation" was an established English principle long before the Americans took up the cry. The American War of Independence was the result of the Americans being denied representation.

There has been a huge drop in the life chances of white English boys. Their prospects are the worse than they have ever been recorded. Thatcher killed off apprenticeships, and the Tories glory in exporting jobs to low wage economies.The English are behaving like the demoralized aboriginal inhabitants of a colonized country - e.g., Australian aborigines and Red Indians who sank into despair and alcohol and drug abuse.

In the recent programme by Rich Hall on the Native Americans we saw how they are now living, demoralised and sinking into alcoholism. Even their reservations are now being plundered for minerals without their consent. However, the Native Americans believe that what goes around comes around or that things go in circles and know that America - the Empire of Debt controlled by a financial elite and not by the average American who is as much a victim of their machinations; an Empire of Debt backed by the Pentagon as Colonel Wilkerson has said - will collapse and they will re-inherit their land. He has also backed the Native Americans by saying that it is about to collapse just as was predicted in 1911 at Zagorsk outside Moscow. And it is Russia that is fighting those who rule America and the rest of the Western world, just as predicted.

The people that Wilkerson was alluding to worship the Golden Calf. This is why the sight of the cross of St Paul's being overshadowed by their gleaming towers, where once it overtopped them, is so significant and depressing. And why are there statues of Gog and Magog in the Guildhall. Gog and Magog were the representations of evil and in the Book of Revelations they are predicted as standing against the Kingdom of God in the final days. Viewed in this light it all makes sense and the final battle is now being waged.

What point an English parliament when the English are only one third of the population of England? And perhaps those who are desperate to bring in the campers of Calais should check out the rape and the stealing from and desecration of churches and anything else that symbolises Christianity happening in Germany with the stolen money going to aid ISIS. This is what is going to happen here in the coming decades and some of my fellow churchgoers are openly talking about the advent of Christian persecution. Russia has vowed to protect all Christians in the Levant and has probably just experienced the backlash, although I would not put it past one of Egypt's neighbours hostile to Russia with the assistance of those behind September 11th i.e. the CIA and probably Mossad.